GAIA Soldier
by LifexTimexDeath
Summary: "You are the first of our successful direct genetic human modified subject, you are a GAIA Soldier, superhuman and supernatural."  Emanuel Quinnling has just woken up from an experiment without any memory of it, but soon, he will realize himself
1. A New Beginning

Sitting up gingerly, the young man gripped the side of the metal table, a metal operating table and for a moment he panicked, questioning why and how he ended up on one. For one this didn't even look like a home, it was a lab.

"What the-?" he exclaimed, relieved that it came out as a gasp than a yell, he for one didn't want to alert whoever may be in the room and he wouldn't want the attention, but it seemed his awakening was expected.

A person in white suddenly appeared, the young man couldn't tell who or what it was, behind the white suit, it was a hazmat suit, what was going on?

"Calm down, you're in shock," it was a man and he quickly took out a syringe filled with blue liquid, grabbed his arm and gave him a shot before the boy had gathered himself enough to resist. Almost instantly, he felt better, something like morphine but without the dizzying effects.

"Who are you?" the young man asked, trying to focus through a haze of warmth, perhaps one of the side effects of the drug.

"Looks like you don't remember a thing, the experiment hasn't killed you thankfully but it's given quite a blow to your Temporal Lobe, your memories are gone," the man said, "I'm a lab tech here, this is the GMRE center in space, just off the edge of Andromeda, this place was established for Genetic Modification Research and Experimentation," still the boy, who apparently was a test subject, could only wonder what this person looked like behind the mask. Noticing this primal curiosity, the man walked over to a table close by and began writing something down while mumbling to himself.

"It seems you have AD," he said returning to the operating table.

"AD?" the young man repeated questioningly, his head cocking to one side.

"Attention Deficiency, your ability to listen is now no more than a 3 year-old's, more similar to a bored cat," the lab tech explained and he carefully and gently pulled out the needles from the subject's arm, who didn't even notice they were there, "Don't worry about it, we have a way around it, for now you better go see Dr. Bard."

"Who is, that?" The man left the subject by the table, busying himself with cleaning and reorganizing the whole room while continuing to write things down on the notebook, the young man had caught a glimpse of what is said, "_Experiment success unknown: _

_Subject alive and well, skills untested._

_Side effects include memory loss and AD_

_Other effects unknown_

_Changes in ability Unknown_

_Further observation required_

The boy could judge from looking at those few lines that it was report written on him.

"Dr. Bard is the scientist in charge," the tech answered, "He is the one who organized this whole thing, talk to him, he'll be able to tell you more about this than I know about." He walked over and handed a steel panel no bigger than his hand to the young man, it had a screen on it and was surprisingly light for metal. Tapping a few commands on it, a display came up, clearly a map.

"Just take a left from this room, go up the stairs and straight on, that'll be his office."

It seemed the man was going to leave it at that as he gathered up an armful of equipment, suddenly he turned back briefly.

"Oh, you should pay a visit to the room on your right first, you might want to change out of that before meeting him."

The boy looked down and discovered he was wearing nothing but silvery sheets over his body, barely covering all of him, yes, he agreed in his head, it would be nice to change into some clothes.

But what he was more worried about was why he was a test subject in the first place, why he was even in space of the edge of an alien galaxy and where he was going to find something to eat, he could feel his stomach complaining bitterly to him.

The doors made a hissing noise as the hydraulics pulled them open, the old man sat there, behind the desk, turned away from the door as he observed the landscape before him. His office, seemed more of an observatory, where he could stare at the stars for hours and watch nebulas forming from his window. Something he was busy doing at the moment that he didn't notice someone entering the room.

"Dr., Bard?"

A little surprised he snapped out of his observation of space and spun round on the chair, "Emanuel Quinnling, I see that you have made it through the change, how do you feel?"

The young man sat down looking very bewildered, "Confused and a little lost?"

"Ah I see the experiment has taken your memories, here, let me run through what's been going before you underwent the GM," Dr. Bard said taking out a device which he pointed towards what seemed like a simple wall. Immediately, images were projected and it became a screen, Emanuel stared at it in amazement, what century was this again, he wondered to himself.

"Do you, remember anything about the present day, Mr. Quinnling?" The boy shook his head, "Ah, you've forgotten nearly everything, alright, let me ask you then, how old are you?"

Emanuel was a little taken back by the question, of course such basic knowledge yet he had not considered is, not even a hint of curiosity. But no he couldn't help but wonder, what his age should be, he glanced at the vague reflection behind the doctor. In the bleak darkness dotted by spots of light that were stars, he could see himself. A boy no more than a teenager, yet he looked nothing like most adolescent males, he was very skinny, which was a little worrying for him and retained the soft innocent look of a child with the eyes, though they also had elegance and maturity to them, a doe-like gaze. Yet somewhere, noticeable yet hidden in his features, one could clearly tell his gender but only at closer inspection. His hair was particularly strange, a silvery color with light and dark highlights, was this natural, he wondered. He turned back to Dr. Bard who patiently waited for his answer. Glancing one last time at his reflection, he smiled and said, "Sixteen, sir, I should be sixteen."

* * *

"Very good," Dr. Bard said, pleased at the boy's confidence, he leaned forward a little, "And what is I told you, we're at war right now?"

Emanuel flinched slightly, taken back by the idea that whoever 'we' were, were fighting in a war, "At, War?"

"Yes, a space war, humans have been fighting an alien race, the Covenant with weapon technology far superior than out own. They've set out since 2525 to destroy all humans, yes Emanuel you are in the 26th century, living and breathing in it." The screen switched and now they were both staring into images of alien worlds, new faster-than-light technology and alien life that Emanuel couldn't remember seeing.

But it is far from peaceful, the war has affected many, not just soldiers but civilians, already colonies in different galaxies and worlds have collapsed because of the covenant," Bard paused as he changed the pictures on screen, they revealed high resolution photos of cities falling, burning down and mass destruction on multiple levels, Emanuel turned to see the old man staring at the images sadly, "We're facing extinction." The screen turned off and the lights were back on. Dr. Bard turned on his chair as he shuffled back over behind his desk wordlessly.

"But what does this have to do with me? I'm just one guy," the young man asked summoning up his courage, he feared breaking the silence with such a question would be a wrong move, the old man already looked upset without needing him to sound like an idiot, but he needed to know.

"You-" Dr. Bard began to say, suddenly his answer was interrupted by the wailing of sirens, bellowing outside the room. Soon people could be heard running around outside shouting random things to each other, panic was ripping through the building all of a sudden.

"What's going on?"

"We're in danger, I know it!"

"That can't be!"

"Are we under attack?"

"Goodness, I had a feeling this would happen one day, it seems we are found to be intruders," Dr. Bard sighed as he got up from his chair. Emanuel, silently mimicked the move, not knowing what was happening but had a feeling that it would be best for him to follow. He rose as well, following the old man to the door. Just as they were within a few feet of the steel doors, it opened and a soldier rushed in, surprising Emanuel. His armor was like nothing he'd seen or remembered seeing before, it was a type of metal yet it didn't seem heavy as iron, in fact, thick as it was, it looked light so that one could run, jump and move freely around without difficulty. He carried a rifle, probably a larger more effective version of a machine gun.

"Speak, fellow, what happened," Dr. Bard said unflinching, the man had to suck in a few breaths before he could respond.

"A Covenant ship has been detected, it is approaching our coordinates, it'll be here in ten minutes we must get you and the other scientists to the evacuation pods!"

"Nonsense," the old man grunted waving the warning away, "This is my home, I'm not leaving. Besides what harm do we pose that they need to destroy us?"

Frustrated the soldier spoke again, "Sir, we received a message from the Covenant, they're here to destroy the center and everyone inside!"

Emanuel looked from the soldier to Dr. Bard, wondering just what would convince the old genius to get to safety. He hoped that age hadn't instilled stubbornness in the scientist, it certainly wouldn't help him in life.

"That's absurd, let me speak with them."

"But, sir!" The soldier cried frantically as the Dr. Bard was off on his way to the Comm room, clearly he had no sense of self-preservation.

The soldier looked to Emanuel, who was still standing silently by the door, "I suggest you make your way to the escape pods immediately," he said giving the same advice he had attempted to give to the old man. Emanuel shook his head, right now, he felt it was more important to follow wherever Dr. Bard was going. Placing more importance in finding out more about his life than saving it, however crazy the idea seemed he wasn't exactly scared for his life at the moment, whatever it was made up of.

Without saying a word, he nodded his head towards the direction in which the Dr. had gone. Assuming that the other man had gotten the idea, Emanuel walked off towards the Comm room, leaving the marine to gape like an idiot.

The man watched as the kid just walked away like nothing happened, fine and dandy. Just how many more of these crazy, suicidal scientists were there in this ship, the man wondered to himself.


	2. Phase One: REM

"Well, what do you know, there **is** a Covenant ship outside," Dr. Bard said in a rather amused tone. A hushed sliding sound emitted from behind, he turned back briefly to see the Emanuel calmly making his way towards the him.

"Ah Emanuel, I thought you would have gone, come," the old man gestured to the young man then pointed to the large glinting ship on-screen, it was unlike any he'd seen before or maybe he just couldn't remember. It was armored to the teeth in a smooth steel that was clearly different and seemed much stronger, a purple glow pulsed along the hull from the tail to the large bulbous head that reminded Emanuel of a whale's.

"See that ship? That's the Covenant. Ruthless, merciless, they'd wipe out anything that they see, well any human they see," Dr. Bard explained calmly, his bony fingers playing across the controls, "I wonder if I can reason with them."

He quickly tapped one of the controls and a small static sound rang through the room. The scientist waited for a moment, Emanuel watching closely. Suddenly the screen jumped and the visual Comm. revealed an alien, disturbingly man-shaped but clearly not human with it's black skin and mandible split into four parts, its eyes the equivalent of an animal's.

"I wish to speak to your leader," Dr. Bard said fearlessly.

The creature gave a low grunt at the request, unimpressed by the old scientist's fearlessness.

"And what would a weakling human like you want, to speak to our commander?"

"I demand to know why you are threatening us, this human doesn't particularly enjoy talking to a subordinate lacking manners, I'd much appreciate it if you would just do as I ask," the doctor retorted. Feeling offended the alien's nostrils flared in anger. Emanuel could guess that at any moment now, it could just terminate the intercom and give the order to attack, that was what he though until a more deeper, noble voice cut in, "Peace, brother, let them speak I am much interested in a conversation with the doctor." Looking shocked at first, the beast's features, what Emanuel could interpret from it changed into defeat as it complied and he was seen no more, now Emanuel stared into the live image of an alien figurehead the same species but spread about with splendor. Sitting on a high seat in a powerfully lit room, it had an air of nobility was dressed in otherworldly armor that still made it look like a god. A single wide beam of light descended down from above the throne, illuminating him, giving him an impression of highness.

This race seemed to have a love of the old arts and splendor, despite their passion for violence they neither looked savage nor acted savage, most of the time. Emanuel could almost feel the passion for their own gods burning through. He had so much still to learn of the memories lost in his mind.

"Dr. Bard, it's been quite some time, just what could you want to speak to me about?"

"Oh nothing really, except why do you feel the need to pop over on my doorstep and cause so much panic in my research center?" Emanuel went a little wide-eyed at the sarcastic line, such language could get you in trouble with a human, never mind an intolerant, short-tempered alien. Surprisingly, instead of looking enraged by the comment, the commander looked more shocked and saddened. Shaking his long head he replied, "What could you possibly mean Dr.?"

"What I mean is, you have your weapons aimed at me. Now I know, Yurga, you are not the type to lie so you better have a good reason or apology."

The alien commander sighed, "Yes you're right, it is against my policy, very well, we have found **you** to be a threat. Rumors have been circulating, Dr. Bard, about you experiments for a new super soldier," Yurga leaned forward on his seat, "That is true, is it not?"

"It is all merely experimentation with genes, nothing more," Bard answered. The Elite grunted in annoyance, sensing how Bard was hedging around the question. He pushed further, not willing to let this go, Yurga added a layer of threat to his voice.

"You **will** drop whatever weapon you are trying to create, maybe then we'll let you go."

"Really have no idea what you are talking about." Yurga chuckled with fake sadness, he was clearly not convinced, no doubt his mind was set.

"Dr. Bard, you are terrible at lying. I'm afraid this is it, I do admit you were an admirable researcher, but you are old. Let me have the honor of dispatching you before you become senile," he said, then turned to Emanuel who stood silently by the doctor's side, "And goodbye to you, little human."

The transmission terminated and all that was left was the slowly approaching ship, leisurely cruising towards their direction. The ship was large and intimidating as it drifted towards the center causing nothing but more panic and chaos among the workers, the aliens must know that, Emanuel thought, but they like seeing the humans scared, not savage but brutal, the young man concluded.

"Well," Dr. Bard suddenly said interrupting his thoughts, turning to Emanuel, he let out a weary sigh despite the looming danger, clearly and surprisingly unfazed by the Covenant intent on destroying everybody, "That does it, no changing a Covenant commanders mind, I should have realized."

"What will you do? Do you intend to wait?"

"I intend on sending them what they were looking for." Dr. Bard smiled. A smile, Emanuel was a little shocked, he has something up his sleeve.

"What is that?" he asked curiously.

"You, Emanuel, my young man, this was what I had been trying to explain," he said with a flourish, " And good thing we have a defense base installed in the center too."

The armor wasn't heavy, no, in fact, it felt quite good, constricting no movement and breathable, almost like casual clothing but Emanuel knew clearly this suit was nowhere near casual. Light reflected splendidly off the silver and red casing, it made him look like he was glowing with colors, the one thing he found embarrassing about it and then he realized this one aspect of himself, he did not like catching attention.

He sighed, disregarding the uncomfortable stares from other soldiers and strode towards the huge jet-like fighter ship, it wasn't too big and it was shaped into a point, like a diving bird.

Climbing on, Emanuel leapt into the cockpit instantly beginning to familiarize himself with the controls and cramped space, pulling the hatch closed he followed the procedure; helmet, safety, emergency, somehow it flowed easily through his mind, as though he'd done this all before. The notion nagged at him a little but the annoying alarm that was still ringing meant he'd have to think about it later, if there could be a later.

"Unit 13, good to go?"

"Yeah," Emanuel replied.

"Still don't get why the old man sent a kid into a fight," the operator mumbled, Emanuel almost chuckled for the man believing he couldn't hear what he was saying, but he let it slip, "Damn, they're here already, Unit 13, prepare for take off."

"Roger that." The engines screeched to life. Down below, all those not participating in the battle quickly scrambled from the hangar before the doors were opened, from the safety of the control command, a man gestured to the ships to make their way over and line up for take-off, his actions were becoming more frantic.

His hand gripping the lever firmly, Emanuel pushed forward gently, he moved into position with ease.

"Alright marines, get out there and kick the hell out of them, try to stay alive," a voice said on the intercom, "Move out!"

One by one, fighter units rolled out into space, activating thrusters once they were completely suspended in zero gravity, Emanuel not far behind.

Mesmerized by the display of the universe, he momentarily forgot why he had come out here, his gaze held by the dazzling dancing lights that was emitted by the thousands of glittering stars billions of light years away. For sure, he would have seen this many tines before but for now, Emanuel felt like he'd just been reborn again to this.

"All units alert, enemy reinforcements have been detected exiting hyperspace, I repeat, they got reinforcements!"

Instantly, a swirling portal appeared and Covenant ships began streaming into the area from it, several carriers came through and began unloading the small fighter-ships then retreated quickly back into slipstream space.

"Incoming Seraphs!" Suddenly the darkness of space blazed alight as explosions popped up all over the area, the 'Seraphs' were quickly organizing themselves and attacking, there was no time to be distracted. One took a shot at Emanuel, he maneuvered out of the way, plasma shots narrowly missing by inches, but met home with his fellow fighter. Emanuel watched in horror as the man was burned up in the quickly dissipating metal.

He took a nosedive out of the crossfire, the alien ship followed. The teardrop-shaped vessel turned and dove through space and laser fire, quickly gaining on his heel. Emanuel let out an irritated sound as he spotted the enemy on his radar, seeing it was the same ship, forced to react quickly as he also realized its weapons were charging.

He eased to the side as a narrow red beam shot by so close to Emanuel a trail of hyper-heated radiation that could be felt through the layers of cold steel.

"Impossible," he whispered incredulously, their technology was thousands of years ahead of them, how could they possibly ever hope to match the enemy's strength in battle. One could take out a couple of human military ships without too much trouble let alone here, now, the sheer number of enemies attacking a facility specialized for research, not combat.

"Hey kid, no daydreaming!" a voice yelled on over the comm., "What the- AAAARGH!"

Suddenly, one flaming fighter zoomed past, smashing into another one and both exploded in a burst of fire and heat, shards of shredded hyper heated steel accelerated in vast directions and cooled to a drift. Their pilots burned to ashes.

A sharply-shaped purple ship speeded through the fire and targeted Emanuel, lasers locked on.

"Damn it."

Heat surged through his ship ripping one wing off, heavily damaged, despite his speedy reaction, he failed to evade the shot completely. Miraculously his spacecraft did not explode as it should have but it was no a sitting target.

"Emanuel! Shit! Hey you alright?" one of his comrades yelled frantically he didn't answer, "Hang in there, kid I'm coming around."

Immediately, Emanuel protested, "No keep away, you don't know what's going to-" Too late, he saw a friendly spacecraft rushing to his co-ordinates but soon was destroyed as well.

Drifting amidst the wreckage and fighting, Emanuel sat in fear, his heart was beating so hard he could hear it. Thoughts of doom plagued him as he watched and waited helplessly. Was this it? They had no chance to begin with? Was this how they were to die, slaughtered mercilessly? Panic spun around and around in his head, and suddenly he curled up, what this it for him? The end?

_Thump thump. _

"No."

_Thump thump._

"This can't be over."

_Thump thump._

"…I'm…scared…"

_Thump._

"No!"

By now the display was erupting with white light, nothing but explosions could be seen, and they were mainly human forces. Very few of the enemy were defeated and already the number of men left were pathetic. A wave of doom washed over the whole facility.

Dr. Bard watched the battle from the comm. room, very disappointed in himself.

"Darn it, should I have kept Emanuel behind?" He scanned over all the area for any signs of the young man, nothing.

"I knew I shouldn't have sent him out as well, he was just to young, the stages of the experiment doesn't show that quickly, I knew it!" Bard cursed, sighing he watched as more men died in blasts of fire, while others rushed bravely to theirs.

"Would there have been another way?"

The intercom beeped.

"Doctor!" It was Morgan in charge of monitoring all the life signs in the center.

"What is it, Morgan."

"Data has come in showing a sudden increase of activity in one of the men."

Bard frowned, "Is it not just adrenalin? Morgan don't waste my time if-"

"No doctor, it's Emanuel."

Impossible, Dr. Bard thought, "What? He rushed back to the display screen, Where, where is it coming from?"

" I don't know sir, there's too much interference."

"What can you make of the data?"

A pause, "…N-nothing, I can't read it, it isn't of any code we have."

Bard searched over the wreckage again, he couldn't see where the young man could be.

"Where are you?"

Suddenly, almost the whole room erupted in blast of white light, Dr. Bard almost forgot to shield his eyes. When it subsided, he saw far away, to the right, one ship originally heavily damaged, suddenly repaired and shone like new, not new, unearthly.

"Computer, zoom in on that spacecraft." The image multiplied ten times larger, though Bard could not see who was in it, clearly he was not imagining things.

"Emanuel, is that you?"

Everything cleared like a bad dream, the fear was gone, replaced by a sense of comfort and flying, and as Emanuel took his hands away from his face, he was awed. Suddenly there was no more burning, the smell of smoldering steel and grease and the heat was gone. It was like everything had become white.

"Emanuel." He failed to respond, still stunned.

"Emanuel can you hear me? Are you there?"

"A-ah yes, loud and clear, Dr. Bard?"

"Yes it's me, how are you feeling?" Emanuel hesitated, confused.

"I-I feel…better…" he said quietly in disbelief.

"Hey, kid, look out!" another of his comrades warned. Then he saw a beam heading towards his ship. It was too fast, there was no way he could take control of the ship quick enough to evade the attack. Emanuel shut his eyes.

Seconds passed by but still no pain, no burning, he opened them again and found himself miraculously still in one piece, the attack had not touched him, in fact he was on the far side of the battlefield from where he'd been.

"What-"

"Whoa kid how the heck did you do that?" one man whistled.

"I didn't even see you move," another exclaimed.

"Dr. Bard, I-" Emanuel began to say.

"Don't worry, the old man assured him, "Let your instinct take you."

"I-"

"Incoming!" Another laser was fired at him, he stared directly at it still too stunned, suddenly, his mind reacted.

"Right," and he had gone to the side, far to the side his hand still had not gone near the controls, stuck in midair down his chest. He gasped.

"That's the way, my boy," Dr. Bard said proudly.

A second shot came, then another, and another until multiple ships were firing at him all at once in desperation.

His senses sharper and reaction time becoming shorter, he grabbed the controls and this time the ship moved away with more control. Then his instincts charged, he fired a couple of shots and brought down one enemy, then two followed swiftly and more fell to his sudden surge of power and skill, Emanuel couldn't process any of this, he was still so confused. Alien ships regrouped and came around for a second wave of attack, hoping to wipe them all out in one go sensing that there was a shift in vantage. They now realized they needed to finish this battle quickly.

"No way," one soldier said incredulously. Emanuel felt like he wasn't really there, his mind somewhere above his body, his ship just watching. He moved all according to instinct, almost an animalistic sense driving him. Three more had gone down and gradually the aliens retreated seeing no way of beating what they couldn't comprehend. The purple vessels fell back one by one to the mothership and the gigantic shimmering beast soon also fell back, shifted away until it suddenly blurred and disappeared into slip-space.

Allied fighters, drifted nervously among the wreckage, holding their breath, the men were anticipating a come-back, but nothing appeared, gradually the tension dissolved away and sighs of relief, joking and rejoicing could be heard over the communication lines.

"Alright, get back to the center, we got a lot of cleaning up to do, well done everyone."

There was shouting and laughing everywhere in the hangars rooms, people were yelling victoriously and clapping each other on the back or performing the old male handshake. Only a few were mildly sullen when they found their friends on the casualties list, only a handful were on it. Emanuel drifted through the noise in a daze. He felt apart from all of it yet somehow happy, a sense of weightlessness overcame him and it was almost he was floating in air, his feet barely touching the ground.

Then a particularly big man, a familiar face caught him out of the crowd, "Emanuel, what the heck did you do?" he asked with a huge grin on his face. He couldn't answer, he felt so dizzy he could only shake his head.

"Heh, the kid doesn't remember," a man close by with a beer in his hand chuckled.

"Anyway, whatever it was it was incredible, like some sort of magic!" The large man's hand felt like an anchor on Emanuel's shoulder, another guy behind him made a funny ghost sound jokingly, "Whhoo, magic." They all laughed. Emanuel just smiled pleasantly but his mind was beginning to wander.

Suddenly his vision was shifting out of focus.

"Man, you're phenomenal." He heard the man say to him but it flew straight over his mind.

"Phenomenal," he repeated to himself, the first thing he said since he left his ship.

He felt so light and dizzy the whole world began to spin like a merry-go-round, a colors and indefinite shapes blurred together in his eyes. Emanuel could feel his body sway but had absolutely no control over it.

This body, he thought, flesh and bones, I can almost separate from it, leave this dead weight behind, but why do I want to? He did feel something splitting apart inside of him and another sensation like wings sprouting from inside his soul. Am I…?

"Emanuel?" A voice fell on him, anchoring him back into the world.

"Dude, are you alright?" Eyes were all on him all of a sudden.

"I-I…" he tried to reply, but never finished as his consciousness failed him at last, and he fell.

Everything turned white.

With disbelief in his mind Ray carried the boy down the corridor, on his way to the infirmary. After all that drama and then more drama, his day was turning out hectic. But he shrugged it off, it was better than what he dealt with and hated almost everyday: boredom.

The boy had been performing admirably but yet managed to faint out of action, Ray wasn't so sure what to consider of him anymore, a skilled soldier or a sickly kid, no bigger than a girl, which was pathetic. Men in the fighting force had to be big and burly otherwise they'd just fly off in a shockwave. How the boss in charge of this whole area and building decided the boy could fight against aliens, Ray would probably never find out.

At least the young man was light, actually far too light, Ray didn't even have to throw him over his shoulder. But he was considering that.

"What's up Ray, carrying the princess to her room?" one black guy joked as he passed him in the walkway.

"Where you off to with her?" one of his friends asked, Ray had to ignore it because of the huge mistake in that one sentence. Then he spotted Taylor coming towards him

"Whoa, what you doing with a girl?" he asked. Ray stopped, tired of the same mistake.

"Taylor, I just came from the hangar, there aren't any girls in this facility except for the bitches in the research area who look down on us," he replied irritably.

"Oh yeah…wait…that's, a guy?" When Ray didn't answer Taylor took a few steps back, hand over his mouth to keep him from laughing out too loud.

"You gotta be kidding me, really?" he chuckled.

"You done rubbing it in?"

"Right sorry, sorry, couldn't help it," Taylor straightened himself, clearing his throat, "So where are you going with…the kid?"

"Infirmary, he passed out back at the hanger," Ray explained he continued on his way accompanied by Taylor who'd decided this was much more interesting direction than where he'd planned to go.

"Passed out, is he some cleaner or what?"

"Nah, he fought with us."

"Fought?" he repeated the word almost too loudly, Taylor gathered himself again and brought his voice down to almost a whisper, "You're not serious right?"

"That's what I've been wondering for the past twenty minutes, but I saw him, he kicked the Covenant asses and sent them running too," Ray confided, he almost laughed at his buddy's reaction.

Taylor's pace slowed a fraction as he stretched back to process this new info.

"I can't believe this."

"Me neither."

They reached a metal door marked IF-01 and a metallic voice came to life as they approached it. It beeped for a few moments before addressing them, "Please input code."

Ray cursed, he'd forgotten to get his code reset that day, there was no way to enter without his code. He turned to Taylor.

"Got yours man?"

"Really? I can't be doing favors for you all the time," he complained as he pushed past the other man and keyed in five digits, his other hand covering it out of habit. Ray had already seen the code but always, as payback and security, never bothered to memorize it.

The door slid open and the smell of sanitizing solutions mixed with chemically washed fabric hit them both hard. The two men did their best not to grimace as they walked in, Taylor pinched his nose tight like he just walked into the men's room.

No one seemed to be in the facility.

Ray looked exchanged a glance with Taylor and nodded towards a second door, then walked over to one of the beds, the least foul-smelling and laid the boy on it.

The other man gently opened the door, it was a hinge-dependent with a brass handle liked the ones from long ago on earth. He took a cautious look around the room. It was considerably smaller, untidy with old and fresh documents stacked atop each other. The desk was smothered with half-read papers and a single stationary holder with several pens and a holographic device weighed them down. This room smelled different, more like paper and coffee, much like Taylor could remembered back on earth when he ventured into his father's office. Then he realized this was somebody's office. He'd never even given the red door a glance before and now felt he had invaded someone's private space.

Taylor was about to close the door when a voice called him back, "Hello, can I help you?"

He pushed the door back slightly and peeked around the corner where a man sat examining a set of papers casually, his feet propped up on the desk in front of him with a few unfortunate documents also caught beneath his work shoes. A lamp on the desk provided dim light.

"Uh, we have a soldier here sir, passed out…"

"Passed out?" the doctor sounded amused, "Maybe you should check his pride, or lack of it."

Taylor frowned, "No I mean, Christ. Yo Ray, you said he just fainted from exhaustion right?" Ray glanced up and nodded.

"Yeah, the kid was just overworked I think."

"Well, fatigue, there's really no remedy better than sleep. Oh whatever, I do appreciate the distraction," the doctor sighed as hi got up from his seat and rooted through even more papers.

"Let's see, fatigue, fatigue, what will we give for a quick cure of…aha!" He traced through the pages of a book with a professional finger. The doctor smiled triumphantly as he made his way over to his mini-cabinet, it opened to reveal a second mess that frankly looked dangerous than the messy room of papers, it was full of syringes, vials and bottles alike. Solutions and medication that glowed with disturbingly vibrant colors. It was literally a neon color palette.

With such a clutter syringes and needles started tumbling all over the shelves, the clatter was deafening.

"Ah, dammit."

Taylor leaned against the door frame waiting impatiently for the man to finish fumbling through the cabinet.

It was uncomfortable sitting there, waiting. The air was tense even though it was just Ray and Emanuel, who was currently unconscious. Ray was only getting more and more awkward sitting in silence. He felt he needed to do something, one of the reasons why he chose to be a marine. The action suited him more than sitting on his ass all day, piloting and paper-pushing alike. But now, this was one situation he could not avoid.

He listened to the rustling and clatter around the corner. It sounded like Taylor was struggling with his task. The man struggled with everything regardless of how simple it was, unlucky perhaps. Ray was almost tempted to get up and investigate, he stopped, he couldn't leave the kid here. Ray was concerned something else would happen if he left the kid alone, he might start coughing up blood or worse.

Ray took a glance at the young soldier. He felt himself getting flushed. He didn't see a hardened soldier, but a boy not even out of his teens, small and vulnerable, lying on the cot, sleeping peacefully like a child. Ray couldn't help but take a closer look. Staring into the angelic face for good while before cautiously reaching forth, brushing against Emanuel's cheek. It was incredibly soft! Much to Ray's surprise and shame, he felt drawn to it more and more. Emanuel stirred slightly, "Mmm."

Ray froze for a moment, certain the young man would wake up, but he was shocked to find the boy actually lean slightly into his hand.

His face was red, Ray just knew it, it felt so hot he was sure it could go on fire if that was possible.

"Sorry Ray, Doc took his time," Taylor suddenly said, popping up from the corner. Ray cursed softly to himself and quickly withdrew.

An experienced man, around his late thirties appeared, a few premature white streaks lined his hair which was painstakingly combed back, but he held a perpetual young smile on his face.

"He tells me I should clean up, quite frankly I think as long as I can do my job I needn't bother," he said with a grin, "Now how can I help you, another headache? Or did you break a limb again playing Rough House?"

Ray smiled back, as usual, Doctor Locardo made fun if not a fuss about the lives and pastimes of the marines. Not a single one to do with him, so he was relieved that none of the doctors remarks applied to him.

"Actually I was hoping you could see what's wrong with this kid," he said coolly, "He passed out right after we ran the Covenant invasion out."

"Ah yes I do remember the disturbance, right in the middle of my nap too." Ray almost rolled his eyes, as usual, the doctor thought himself so calm and collected, he must certainly have a lot of confidence in the facility's defenses.

The doctor brushed past him and took a look at the young man, still deeply unconscious.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here," he said whistling softly, "You weren't kidding when you said 'a kid'." Ray shook his head.

"Probably just hit the end of his nerves, if you ask me, he looks sissy enough to pass out if a rat just walked by."

"You don't understand," Ray sighed, impressions aside, he felt the doc was missing out a lot just passing judgements like that, "**He's** the one who kicked the Covenant asses home crying, he saved the damn place!"

Locardo was quite taken back by this, he took a moment to recollect himself and reconsider his conclusion. Picking up Emanuel's wrist, he examined his pulse. Both Ray and Locardo couldn't help but notice the wrist was rather small for a male, the doctor found it worrying. Taylor leaned by the door tapping his foot, eyes trained on the ground, bored.

"Hmm, mostly fine, I'd say some sort of fatigue knocked him out, though I am hesitant about his body in general, he's quite frail for a soldier compared to everyone," the doctor said looking up at Taylor and Ray, both bulky men from years of intense training and physical strain in battle, "Leave him here for a few days, let's see if his condition improves with time, hopefully some good rest will help."

"Sure," Ray made for the door where Taylor was waiting, "Let me know when he wakes up."

Doctor Locardo nodded as he inserted the last needle into the boy's arm.

It was dark, and cramped, like being locked inside a box. Maybe that was what it was, Emanuel was trapped. It felt so damn tight. Emanuel couldn't see a thing but he could feel himself all curled up.

Unable to move, he felt like he was going crazy. Suddenly gunshots rang across the space, slightly muffled. It sounded as if it was coming from outside.

A bomb exploded somewhere behind Emanuel, the sound was so close it made his heart jump, then something clicked. He pushed against the walls, one side gave way slightly. He pushed a little harder and it came away completely. Emanuel crawled out from the space cautiously.

Suddenly another explosion erupted. He flinched back a little into the cramped box. A few yards away, a landmine had gone off, followed by a sudden stampede of several dozen men or so, rushing in. Battle cries resounded in the air and Emanuel suddenly found himself in the center of the chaos. Explosions began erupting more and more frequently, dotting the battlefield with craters and torn bodies of the unfortunate soldiers who got caught in them.

Guns and machines guns churned out thousands of millions of bullets all at once and somewhere between the heated rattles lay the softer, almost inaudible fire of plasma, firing back at the marines.

Emanuel couldn't move, he was so scared his whole body froze to the spot. His head lowered, not daring to look up. He was torn between crawling back into the little crate and staying there to die from claustrophobia or risking his life to go out and find a safer spot to hide in no-man's land. Too much chaos, it was overwhelming.

Suddenly a presence dashed by. A familiar presence. It was in fact, more intimate than Emanuel had ever felt before, the feeling was indescribable.

He forced himself to look up and saw the back of a soldier rushing off into the fire. Surprisingly fast, he suddenly stopped and stooped down to help a fallen soldier. Emanuel couldn't quite tell what the man looked like in all the armor, he looked just like all the other marines. The soldier remained there, one hand felt around until he found a spot he could get a grip on, draped the injured man's arm over his shoulder and carefully lifted his comrade, the armor of his left shoulder and arm had been blown to pieces and was exposed and bleeding heavily. The marine carried his friend by his good arm as they slowly moved back away from the frontline.

"That's crazy!" Emanuel thought. Looking beyond, he saw bodies of the Covenant falling as well, but none came to aid them, not even if they had 90 per cent of living. The grunts were the least well off and some were crushed by the larger of the Covenant just for being in the way.

Human, he remembered, being human meant helping others even if it risked death. Suddenly his mind went white, his head filled with flashes of memories, he was running, through a wasteland. The were gunshots here as well. He could hear his breath heavy and the gravel crunched beneath his boots.

Through a visor, he saw a gun in his own hand, bullets fired rapidly from it.

His mind flashed again and he was falling, falling, hitting the ground hard, this vision blurred as he could make out the blood pooling around the visor, his helmet, his body.

"Ugh!" Pain seared through his head, like needles stabbing into his brain. Emanuel gripped his head but it didn't help the pain, he tried to look up but his vision began to blur. He blacked out as a series of bombs exploded dangerously close to him, the heat enveloping him like a wave.

Voices were calling him. He couldn't quite make it out, they were far too muffled. He couldn't see either but could make out a hazy light through his eyelids. He tried to open his eyes.

There was a tiny but bright light ahead, a white orb floating just a little away from him.

He couldn't see himself but felt his arms lifting and reaching towards the orb.

The voices were becoming clearer.

"Can…hear?"

"He…llo?"

Emanuel focused on getting to the white light.

"Are you…lright?"

Now he could see the shadow of his hand, fingers spreading, trying to touch the orb. The tips brushed against it. Surprisingly, it was warm not hot like fire, and fuzzy too. The sensations was so strange Emanuel almost giggled. He reached forward and cupped his hands around it. It didn't float away like dust would, it seemed to sit in his hands, content and happy.

He really like the feeling it gave off, the aura helped melt away the unpleasantness and searing pain. He brought it closer towards him, cradling the orb to his chest.

"Hey, can you hear me?" a voice called, "Are you alright?"

Then the orb suddenly started to melt away. Emanuel was dismayed for a brief moment until the orb began dissolving into his chest and hands. Confused and a little frightened he tried to shake it off, but it had already melted and absorbed into his body, filling him with warmth.

Emanuel felt strangely light, weightless and his skin shimmered. A shiver went up his spine and spread all over his back.

Feeling weird he looked back to see something sprouting from his shoulder blades, slowly materializing from his body.

"Wha-?"

"How does a little bird, fallen from his nest, fly again?"


End file.
